Flight Test Engineer Intern (Fall 2026)

You must have completed the second year of your undergraduate studies in physics, mathematics, mechanical, aerospace, system engineering, computer science, electrical engineering or related fields.

Experience in autonomous vehicle/ robotic system integration and testing work.

Experience in data process, visualization.

As a Flight Test Engineering Intern, you will be instrumental in analyzing flight test data logs to determine test effectiveness, identify success/failure root causes, and track performance trends.

You will also directly contribute to the design of new flight test campaigns, collaborating with other engineers to define the test scope, test method, and data post-processing.

This is a unique opportunity for someone excited to learn how complex robotic systems are validated, who enjoys problem-solving, and who wants to build real-world experience working with autonomy software, data analysis, and systems engineering.

Analyze flight test data logs using custom scripts (Python, DataBricks, SQL) to identify anomalies, assess reliability, track performance trends, and perform regression analyses.

Design, oversee the execution, and review the results of software validation and flight test campaigns to ensure new features perform as intended and prevent hardware/software regression.

Daily test and monitor the develop branch to quickly surface instability and potential future issues.

Zipline’s

Flight Test Engineering

team is a specialized group that designs flight test courses and methods to support our overall system validation progress. This involves developing custom flight control software for complex maneuvers and collaborating with development engineers to design rigorous tests for all critical edge cases.

We leverage expertise in system design, statistics, flight physics, and sound experimental methods to ensure our flight tests are effective and safe. The team partners closely with Controls and Dynamics, Embedded Software, Autonomy, Systems Engineering, Powertrain, Structure, and Flight Operations teams to build comprehensive test plans and test cards.

Our work spans simulation, hardware testing, data-driven analysis, and system-level evaluations that support deployments across the globe. As an intern, you’ll collaborate with engineers across these domains, gaining hands-on exposure to how industry-leading autonomous systems are designed, tested, and validated at scale.